I have to ask, just in case.

What fuel pressure is the transfer pump achieving? Is it maintaining good pressure when the engine is trying to fire?

Have you cleaned the Cuno filters (return oil filters)? They could be blocking oil flow and causing the low oil pressure switch to cut out the governor. Or, the oil pressure switch could be faulty, not unusual after years of storage. The start circuit should override this while pressed in, unless something isn't working.

A jumper around the low oil pressure switch could help rule these things out, but be certain you have enough oil, and whatever you do, don't leave the jumper in place after using it for troubleshooting. It's an important piece of protection.

Steve Hunter

After our semi-success on the weekend in getting 7020's engine to run we
are now in trouble-shoot mode to find out why four of the six cylinders
don't want to fire. I suggested a compression test might be informative and
Chris did that for each cylinder today.

The results:
The compression pressure according to the manual should be 280psi.

#1 = 270
#2 = 250 (fires ok)
#3 = 250
#4 = 260 (fires ok)
#5 = 270
#6 = 260

These are all acceptable pressures, no reason here why any particular
cylinder should not fire.

"Jobs next" are: Pull the injectors and take a look with a bore scope.
While we are doing that, swap the injectors from cylinders 2 and 4 into two
other cylinders to see if anything changes. If (for instance) cylinder 1
starts to fire with the injector from cylinder 2 and 2 stops firing then
the problem lies with the injectors. This is unlikely since they are newly
re-built but a process of elimination of causes will get us to where we
want to be eventually.

A side project Chris and Antonio were working on this afternoon is the
governor electrical wiring. There is something odd about it as the existing
wiring does not match that shown in the manual and we all want to know why
not.

Thanks to everyone who posted videos from the start attempts, they were
great to watch.

Michael

~ 50psi on the transfer pump going from memory, mid-reading on the gauge anyway.
Cuno filters were cleaned I think but will double check that.
We do (did) have a wiring issue with the oil pressure switch but it was resolved. Chris was having to hold the start switch in.

Thanks for the input.



Michael
http://www.trha.ca

The fuel cutoff handles on the offending cylinders' pumps are fully seated, and not bound up partially in? I'm just looking for reasons fuel might not be getting to all the injectors.

Before removing injectors- have you loosened the supply fitting on each one to ensure all the air in the lines is properly purged?

Steve

The pumps and injectors have all just returned from rebuild so we are assuming they are set up correctly and all the same.​
​We have indeed cracked all high-pressure lines to bleed any air away and yes we have solid fuel at each injector connection.
One current approach we are considering is to pull the compression plugs on three of the non-firing cylinders and cut out their pumps. Run the engine on the two firing cylinders and see if the extra rpm will bring the sixth up to firing. We should then be able to add the remaining three one at a time until all six are firing. - It might work.​​
Also we intend to find a way to supply warmed air to the intake.

It has to run eventually because we can't find any reason it shouldn't.​​ :)​

Also we intend to find a way to supply warmed air to the intake.

A "jet engine" or "torpedo" heater , either kero or propane, should do that job quite well.

Good luck with that loco; always good to see another old 539 come back to life!

Howard P.

Did you check / re-set the fuel pump timing for each of the cylinders?

Neophyte question: Is there any practical way short of pulling heads to see if any fuel got sprayed into the cylinders in question? After so many revolutions would there be an accumulation or would it all have leaked past the rings anyway? If it does accumulate maybe it can be detected at TDC. A swab at the end of a wire?

Well, there's your problem. Switch from coal to diesel fuel and see what happens.

[runs away from ballast being thrown]

Chris spent half the afternoon chasing a wiring fault down and I was able
to join him at 5p.m. to help complete the repair. The various advice notes
we have received over the last couple of days were helpful and suggested we
were on the right track with our trouble shooting.

The problem was that we only had two of the six cylinders firing. One
advice note made a suggestion about test cocks which 7020 does not have (it
has plugs) but it led to the idea of "turning off" all the non-firing
cylinders but one in an attempt to get the engine rpm up on the two that
were firing in the hope that the one would kick in. (i.e. we turned off the
fuel and removed the compression plugs for cylinders 1,3 and 5 so that 2
and 4 which were firing would help #6 wake up). In the event this evening
that is what we did and over the course of a couple of hours we were able
to get all six cylinders firing.

Let me say that again: IT RUNS! All six cylinders are firing. Everything
seems to be good.

We did blanket downtown in white smoke it was difficult to see across
Bremner blvd for a time but no fire trucks arrived and it was all good as
it eventually cleared.

The 70th anniversary of 7020's arrival is coming up soon and Chris and I
are confident that we can have 7020 in motion under its own power should we
wish to celebrate that date.

A video is here (after it finishes uploading): http://youtu.be/1RzBlT7LGCQ
it runs for about 7 minutes, the last two of which are the sounds of an
operating 539T.

Thanks to everyone who contributed advice, time or applause at the right
moment, Chris and I appreciate it all.

Michael
http://www.trha.ca

Great news!

Hopefully now that she's run again, she will be far more cooperative in the future. At any rate, you've added to your bag of tricks!

Steve Hunter